Millions wasted on the LRIE vanity project
TRYING to get the full picture of just what is happening on the football/ sports pitch is an exercise in banging your head against a brick wall.
Recently we had key decisions being made by delegated authority (funny how the Conservatives are keen to use unelected civil servants when it suits their agendas).
Now it appears key decisions were made behind closed doors with press and public barred. We’ve been here before with Faraday Plaza – and that didn’t end well.
My straightforward request to know how much the sports ground would cost and where the money to pay for it was met with a straightforward refusal to answer.
One Kafkaesque aspect, has been the refusal of the Conservative council or councillors to admit that the possible pitch at Monks Lane was a replacement, and for good reason.
The planning regulations for recognised sports grounds state that before any construction (or deconstruction) takes place a replacement ground at equivalent or better must be constructed.
The response from WBC (with councillor Law in attendance) to this was “we don’t have a legal duty”, “what are we going to do – nothing”.
This is just after the club and community group were evicted.
After the St Modwen deal was declared illegal, access was still denied – so thank you councillor Beck for showing common sense this week on this issue.
However, as councillor Mackinon will tell you, it’s the wrong sort of grass.
Now we have the sight of Lynne Doherty on July 13 admitting to Sport England that the new sports ground is a replacement, which is an admittance that despite countless reminders the council have overridden regulations, something they were reminded of as far back as 2015.
So millions to be spent, years wasted and nothing achieved, all to get their hands on a piece of land in the highest category of flood plain with the idea of building uninsurable houses or flats.
A truly wasteful vanity project at the expense of the council tax payers and the community as a whole.
My view is simple, the councillors in the executive who destroyed the sports ground and evicted the club and community football group should pay for the new facility out of their personal pocket and not continue to expect council tax payers to subsidise their collective incompetence.
IAN HALL
Ashampstead